The Unsigned Music Awards (often referred to as "UMA" or "The UMAs") is an international televised awards ceremony held annually to recognise the achievements of artists that are not signed to a record label. The awards are part of UMA Music Group and were established in 2016 by Simon O'Kelly, Georgina Thomas and Ben Connor.

Unsigned Music Awards
The official trophy for the Unsigned Music Awards.
Sponsored byLiquiproof
Date16 May 2018
LocationThe Brighton Centre
CountryUK
Presented byUMA Music Group
Hosted byLaura Whitmore & Chris Stark
First awarded2016
Highlights
Icons AwardBoyce Avenue
Best AlbumRothwell
Best FemaleElle Exxe
Best MaleMullally
Websiteumamusic.com
Television/radio coverage
NetworkSky, Freeview, Freesat, UNILAD
Runtime120 Minutes (Live)
90 Minutes (TV)

The first ceremony was held at the Troxy Theatre[1] in London on Thursday 27 October 2016 and will be held annually each year to recognise and champion the continued growth and successes of the emerging music sector.

Since 2016, the awards have been co-hosted by Laura Whitmore of MTV and Chris Stark.[citation needed]

Ceremonies

edit

The first ever event took place at the Troxy Theatre[2] in London on Thursday 27 October 2016.

The Unsigned Music Awards will return to the UK in May 2018 as the opening ceremony of The Great Escape music festival, forming part of a new deal with Live Nation.

The show will take place on Wednesday, 16 May at The Brighton Centre. Tickets go on sale in Spring 2017.

Definition of unsigned

edit

The definition of unsigned as used by the Unsigned Music Awards is any artist that is not currently in a commercially negotiated recording contract with a third party record label.[3]

So long as an artist owns and controls the rights to their recordings and is in a position to exploit them through fixed-term licensing deals, publishing deals or any other, they shall be deemed an unsigned artist who may be considered for the Unsigned Music Awards.

An artist may still qualify for an Unsigned Music Award if they have a manager, publishing deal, live/booking agent, talent agent, sync/licensing deal, distribution deal or are 'signed' to their own record label, even if they have received outside funding.

Eligibility and voting

edit

The first annual Unsigned Music Awards recognised any music that had been released prior to the 2016 event, making up for the lack in existence of an awards show that recognises unsigned music at this time.

As of 2018, UMA awards ceremonies will recognise albums, EPs, and songs that have released between January 1 in the previous year, and March 31 in the current year, allowing artists fifteen months to work their releases to a point that it becomes notable.

The winners and nominees of the Unsigned Music Awards are selected by a panel of judges who are currently active within the mainstream music industry, working at an executive level across major music industry companies.[4]

From 2018 (with the exemption of some categories) there will be four nominees announced within each of the seventeen categories. In order to ensure that the artists nominated for an Unsigned Music Award meet a certain criteria, three of the four nominees chosen are put forward by the UMA Voting Panel, with the remaining nominee in each category being selected from the list of applications submitted through the UMA website.

TV and media coverage

edit

In 2016, the first ever Unsigned Music Awards was televised on Monday, 31 October 2016 at 9:30pm, four days after the event took place on Sky, Freeview and Freesat via the digital TV network, Showcase.[5]

Since 2016 UNILAD have been the official media partner for the Unsigned Music Awards.[6][7]

Year Country Event Television Network Key Media Partner
2016 United Kingdom Unsigned Music Awards Showcase TV UNILAD

Awards

edit

In 2016, there were 17 categories up for grabs at the Unsigned Music Awards. The winners are as follows:

Category Winner Also Nominated For Sponsored By Presented By
UMA Icons Award Boyce Avenue UMA Laura Whitmore / Chris Stark
Best Album Rothwell Best Female Solo Act Liquiproof Jon Webster
Best Male Solo Act Mullally Uber Laura Whitmore / Chris Stark
Best Female Solo Act Elle Exxe NKDb Cosmetics
Best Music Video Gunship Best Electronic Act
Best Live Act Brother and Bones Best Rock Act / Best Album Time Out London Ray Jones
Best Produced / Engineered Record Jerry Williams Best Album Metropolis Studios Aamir Yaqub
Best International Record Gosto Mood Media Laura Whitmore / Chris Stark
Best International Music Video Madyx Best International Record Music Gateway
Best Songwriter Dani Sylvia BASCA Crispin Hunt
Musicpreneur Anno Domini BIMM Jake Shillingford
Best Urban Act Mugun Caner Veli
Best Electronic Act Majik Robertson Taylor Laura Whitmore / Chris Stark
Best Rock Act Broken Witt Rebels Best Album
Best Country / Folk Act Westerman
Best Jazz / Blues Act Malaika
Youth Music Award Momac Youth Music Foundation Andy Parfitt

References

edit
  1. ^ "Unsigned Music Awards 2016: Full Winners List". Music News. Newsdesk. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Unsigned Music Awards 2016: Full Winners List". Music News. Newsdesk. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Terms and Conditions". Unsigned Music Awards. Legal Team. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Unsigned Music Awards Voting Panel". www.theumas.com. February 12, 2017.
  5. ^ Stanley, Carl (10 October 2016). "Countdown to Exciting New Unsigned Music Awards Event". Louder Than War. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  6. ^ "UNILAD Partner with Unsigned Music Awards". UMA Music. UMA Music. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  7. ^ Stewart, Rebecca (3 January 2017). "Unilad beats the Daily Mail and BuzzFeed's Tasty to become 2016's most popular Facebook publisher". The Drum. Retrieved 12 February 2017.